Customer Feedback Inspires Eddie Bauer Redesign

Eddie Bauer recently revamped its online store design using customer feedback. At first glance, it’s hard to see much difference other than the doesn’t look like much has really changed. But when you look under the hood, you find Eddie Bauer’s packed its new site with plenty of Web 2.0 to improve usability and customer satisfaction.

The Changes

Larger Product Images

Eddie Bauer now shows images 25% larger in category pages, so customers can see more detail without clicking on the product to get a better view. Rolling your mouse over some images will show alternate views.

Old Image Size

New Image Size

Some products show available colors when you mouse over, this feature is carried over from the previous design.

Expanded Navigation Menu

Categorization didn’t change, but expanded menus appear clearly at the top of the screen, and stay “open” as you jump from link to link.

The only thing I find strange is how it doubles up on navigation in some areas – for example, in the clearance section, the navigation is repeated across the top, and the side.

AJAX Product View

From the category page, you can click on any product to view the details in a mini-screen, and view more product info by mousing over the orange squares on the right (garment care, materials and fit). Eddie Bauer calls this “virtually picking up” an item, and “putting it down” to continue browsing that category.

Inventory Display

See an item’s size and color availability before adding it to your shopping bag. If the item is a pre-order, it shoes clearly when it is expected to ship.

This is fantastic. Unfortunately the clearance section (where this would be most useful) doesn’t have this feature.

Adding Products To Shopping Bag

Eddie Bauer’s “Add to Shopping Bag” confirmation gives full details of which item, size and color was added, the price, availability (in stock), cross-sells and links to check out, continue shopping or add a gift box. Trust me, I’ve looked at hundreds of “add to cart” confirmation methods, and I really dig this one.

Shopping Bag Layout

The revamped cart page has larger product thumbnails, tax and shipping calculations and holds items in your cart for weeks, so if you abandon your cart, you don’t have to start over (a.k.a. “persistent shopping cart”.)